Description

A best-selling, topically organized child development text, Berk’s Child Development is relied on in classrooms worldwide for its clear, engaging writing style, exceptional cross-cultural and multi-cultural focus, rich examples, and long-standing commitment to presenting the most up-to-date scholarship while also offering students research-based, practical applications that they can relate to their personal and professional lives.

Berk takes an integrated approach to presenting development in the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social domains; emphasizes the complex interchanges between heredity and environment; and provides exceptional attention to culture.

Laura Berk, renowned professor and researcher, presents the latest theories and findings in the field to students in a manageable and relevant way. Berk’s signature storytelling style invites students to actively learn beside the text’s “characters,” who experience real issues in development, including physical, cognitive, and peer challenges, as well as parenting and educational concerns. Berk also helps students connect their learning to their personal and professional areas of interest. Her voice comes through when speaking directly about issues students will face in their future pursuits as parents, educators, heath care providers, social workers, and researchers. As members of a global and diverse human community, students are called on to intelligently approach the responsibility of understanding and responding to the needs and concerns of children.

While carefully considering the complexities of child development, Berk presents classic and emerging theories in an especially clear, engaging writing style, with a multitude of research-based, real-world, and cross-cultural examples. Strengthening the connections among developmental domains and among theory, research, and applications, this edition's extensive revision brings forth the most recent scholarship, representing the changing field of child development.

Table of Contents

Part I: Theory and Research in Child Development

1 History, Theory, and Applied Directions

The Field of Child Development

Basic Issues

Historical Foundations

Mid-Twentieth-Century Theories

Recent Theoretical Perspectives

Comparing Child Development Theories

Applied Directions: Child Development and Social Policy

2 Research Strategies

From Theory to Hypothesis

Common Research Methods

Reliability and Validity: Keys to Scientifically Sound Research

General Research Designs

Designs for Studying Development

Part II: Foundations of Development

3 Biological Foundations, Prenatal Development, and Birth

Genetic Foundations

Reproductive Choices

Prenatal Development

Prenatal Environmental Influences

Childbirth

Approaches to Childbirth

Birth Complications

Heredity, Environment, and Behavior: A Look Ahead

4 Infancy: Early Learning, Motor Skills, and Perceptual Capacities

The Organized Newborn

Motor Development in Infancy

Perceptual Development in Infancy

Early Deprivation and Enrichment: Is Infancy a Sensitive Period of Development?